The Beuron school was an art movement founded by a confederation of Benedictine monks in Germany in the late 19th century. [1]
The Beuron school was an art movement founded by a confederation of Benedictine monks in Germany in the late 19th century. [1]
In addition to the first abbot of Beuron Archabbey, Maurus Wolter (died 1890), who founded the monastery with his brother Placidus in 1863, the early leaders of the artistic school were Father Desiderius Lenz (1832–1928) and Gabriel Wuger (1829–1892). Several Benedictine artists worked within the school, including Jan Verkade. [1] [2]
Beuronese art is principally known for its murals with "muted, tranquil and seemingly mysterious colouring". [3] Though several different principles were in competition to form the canon for the school, "[t]he most significant principle or canon of the Beuronese school is the role which geometry played in determining proportions." [4] Lenz elaborated the philosophy and canon of a new artistic direction, which was based on the elements of ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine and early Christian art. Some of the other principles that Lenz used to define the Beuronese style include:
- The art speaks to the mind of the viewer. The art is itself worshipful and invites the viewer to worship. It does not stand out boldly of itself but is part of an environment of worship.
- Works are anonymous, done by group effort, and not for the glory of the artist, but of God.
- As in icons, the Beuronese style favors imitation over originality, with freehand copying revealing an artist's true genius.
- There is full integration of art and architecture. Painting and sculpture are not "stick-ons" to an architectural plan but an integral part of it. Beuronese art encompasses painting, architecture, altar vessels, and furnishings. [5]
One of the most complete collections of Beuronese art is located at Conception Abbey in Conception, Missouri, which was founded by Benedictine monks who immigrated to the United States from Engelberg Abbey in Switzerland. According to the abbey's website, "Beuronese art was revolutionary for its time, and also characteristic of its time. It offered a stylized, simplified, and hieratic approach to art which went against the grain of contemporary romantic forms." [6]
A series of murals depicting the Life of the Virgin was created under the direction of Desiderius Lenz, Gabriel Wuger, and Lukas Steiner between 1880 and 1887 for the Benedictine Abbey of Emmaus in Prague. Subsequently destroyed by fire in 1945 during World War II, two copies of this set are still in existence. A set was created for St. Mary's German Church in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, between 1908 and 1910 by the Revs. Bonaventure Ostendorp and Rapheul Pfister of the Order of Saint Benedict at St. Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire. The church was demolished in 1996. However, the Life of the Virgin series was restored and relocated to Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Carnegie, Pennsylvania. A second set of duplicates resides at the abbey church of the Immaculate Conception Benedictine Abbey in Conception, Missouri.
Beuronese art has been suggested by several scholars to have had a large influence on the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt. In 1898, shortly after the beginning of the Vienna Secession, Father Desiderius Lenz had his book published – Zur Aesthetic der Beuroner Schule ('On the Aesthetics of the Beuron School'). It is assumed that Klimt read Lenz's work with enthusiasm, and images of Beuron Abbey, for instance, may show sections of the decorated ceiling which appear to have made quite a direct impact on Klimt's decorative, golden paintings.
Beuron Archabbey is a major house of the Benedictine Order located at Beuron in the upper Danube valley in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.
Seckau Abbey is a Benedictine monastery and Co-Cathedral in Seckau in Styria, Austria.
The Beuronese Congregation, or Beuron Congregation, is a union of mostly German or German-speaking monasteries of both monks and nuns within the Benedictine Confederation. The congregation stands under the patronage of Martin of Tours, who is the patron saint of the Archabbey of Beuron.
Neresheim Abbey or the Abbey of Saints Ulrich and Afra, Neresheim is located above the town of Neresheim in Baden-Württemberg, southern Germany. It is now a Benedictine monastery and is part of the Beuronese Congregation.
St. Gabriel's Abbey or Monastery is a former Benedictine nunnery of the Beuron Congregation in Smíchov, Prague, Czech Republic. It was built in the years 1888–1891, in the distinctive Beuronese style, by the congregation's architects Hildebrand de Hemptinne and Ghislain de Béthune. Initially a priory, it was raised to the status of an abbey in 1893. The nuns were forced to move to Austria in 1919.
St. Ottilien Archabbey is a Benedictine monastery in Emming near Eresing and the Ammersee in the district of Landsberg, Oberbayern, Germany. It is the motherhouse of the St. Ottilien Congregation.
Johannes Sixtus Gerhardus (Jan) Verkade, afterwards Willibrord Verkade O.S.B., was a Dutch Post-Impressionist and Christian Symbolist painter. A disciple of Paul Gauguin and friend of Paul Sérusier, he belonged to the circle of artists known as 'Les Nabis.' Of a Dutch anabaptist background, his artistic and spiritual journey led him to convert to Roman Catholicism, and to take Holy Orders as a Benedictine monk, taking the religious name Willibrord. He entered the Archabbey of Beuron and continued his work in a religious context, working closely with Desiderius Lenz, leader of the Beuron Art School. He worked throughout Europe and had an important influence on the continuing development of the new Benedictine Art.
Gabriel Wüger was an artist and a Benedictine monk. He was one of the founders of the Beuron Art School in Germany in the late nineteenth century.
The American-Cassinese Congregation is a Catholic association of Benedictine monasteries founded in 1855. The monasteries of the congregation follow the monastic way of life as outlined by St. Benedict of Nursia in his early 6th century Rule of Saint Benedict. The congregation is one of 19 congregations in the Benedictine Confederation and includes 25 monasteries: 19 autonomous abbeys and 6 dependent priories, located across 15 states and Puerto Rico, as well as Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, and Taiwan.
Peter Lenz (1832–1928), afterwards Desiderius Lenz, was a German artist who became a Benedictine monk. Together with Gabriel Wüger, he founded the Beuron Art School.
Maurus Wolter was the first abbot of the Benedictine Beuron Archabbey, which he founded with his brother Placidus in 1863.
Monastery of Saint Benedict is a Catholic temple located in São Paulo, Brazil. Established on 14 July 1598, the current church was built between 1910 and 1914 by the German architect Richard Berndl. It is formed by the Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption, the College of São Bento and the School of Philosophy of São Bento.
St. Mary's (German) Church was a Roman Catholic church in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, noteworthy for being the only church in the United States built in the early Christian Basilica model.
Amalie Bensinger was a German painter associated with the Nazarene movement.
Albert Schmidt OSB is a German Benedictine monk and presiding abbot of the Beuronese Congregation, an association of eighteen mostly German or German-speaking Benedictine monasteries and convents, headed by Beuron Abbey in the upper Danube Valley. This makes him the Congregation's highest ranking dignitary and a High Superior in church law terms.
Hildebrand de Hemptinne was a Belgium Benedictine monk of Beuron Archabbey, the second Abbot of Maredsous Abbey, and the first Abbot Primate of the Order of St. Benedict and the Benedictine Confederation.
Heinrich Suso Mayer OSB, usually called just Suso Mayer, né Franz Mayer, was a German Benedictine and priest.
The College of Sant'Anselmo is an international Benedictine college founded by Pope Leo XIII in 1887 and located in Rome, Italy. Situated on the Aventine Hill, it is one of four Benedictine institutions that occupy the complex known as "Sant'Anselmo all'Aventino" which serves as the Primatial Abbey of the Benedictine Confederation. As an ecclesiastical residential college in the Roman College tradition, it serves as both a house of formation for Benedictines, but also as a residence for over one hundred monks from around forty countries, religious, diocesan priests, and lay people. It offers a monastic environment for those who study at the onsite Pontifical Athenaeum of Saint Anselm or at other Roman pontifical universities.
Anselm Schott OSB born September 5, 1843, in Staufeneck, municipality of Salach; died April 23, 1896, in Maria Laach, was a German Benedictine monk. His name is associated with a widely used prayer book, reprinted many times since its initial publication in 1884, which presented the most important Catholic liturgical book, the Missal, in German, "adapted for lay use", to be read alongside the Latin liturgy. The name "(the) Schott" became synonymous for the book because of its popularity and has been a trademark since 1928. The book also contained detailed explanatory comments on the liturgical year.
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